Recent content by TheRatmeister

or poorly maintained

What's the proposed budget here? My hot-take about the Concord Rotary is that funding put towards it would be much better spent on Fitchburg Line improvements. When you're not going during rush hour the Concord Rotary is totally fine, the huge backups pretty much exclusively happen during peak...

I mean yes about it not being affordable but I think it's more about sprawl like @jklo is saying. 'Preserving Montana' means keeping "Big Sky Country" natural and open, not full of urban sprawl.

https://www.mbta.com/news/2026-05-06/construction-major-accessibility-improvements-symphony-station-begins-june-6?utm_campaign=curated-content&utm_medium=news&utm_source=homepage&utm_term=green-line&utm_content=Construction+for+Major+Accessibility+Improvements+at+Symphony+Station+Begins+June+6...

I can tell you it's absolutely not just a Boston issue, mopeds and fat bikes are scourges of dutch cycle paths as well. The gas ones are deafeningly loud and the electric ones are quiet enough to sneak up on you like a Prius in a Trader Joes parking lot.

They aren't mutually exclusive. What's really needed across the board is enforcement of traffic laws in general.

These seem quite similar to the Dutch rules based on a quick read.

Easily my favorite part of the 2003 PMT for just how bonkers it is, it really goes to show how far BRT mania was reaching at the time. The article annoyingly doesn't quote the actual provision, so here it is: It doesn't actually say 'Bus Rapid Transit' it says 'Rapid bus transit' which...

The only reason you'd possibly want to do that is if you expected EMU prices to rise dramatically in the near to medium term, same as buying someone a car before they get their learner's permit. It's a depreciating asset that has upkeep costs, so you don't want to keep it around if you don't...

I did see some photos from the Chestnut Hill Ave/Comm Ave intersection where they seem to be doing some track work but yeah not the main focus.

So finally, some observations from Ukraine: Firstly, it is immediately and overwhelmingly obvious the toll the war has taken in terms of blood spilled. One thing you notice about Kyiv is that a city that size should not be able to support that many flower shops, and that it's unusual to see...

So, I have bad ideas sometimes, and one of those bad ideas was to go to Ukraine. (Twice.) I am not a journalist, but I'd like to show everyone here what I saw because I do think it's important. Before that, some practicalities. Getting to/from Ukraine Both times, I traveled by night train...

Correct, it's essentially a whole western-world problem at this point. I really, really struggle to see a lasting solution that isn't just, "the government builds the rental housing stock and rental prices are determined by policymakers and not markets."

I've done the whole map with the thick CR lines but later reverted it (except for Fairmount) given the abysmal service many stations on the map. If/when frequent(ish) service comes to other parts of the network, I can fairly easily adapt the map. But Back Bay-South Station just doesn't meet...

You could totally do it manually. Set the price to $25, release X amount of tickets, once those are sold out change the price, release more, etc etc.